Putin: West ignores Russia's interests in Ukraine

Russian President Vladimir Putin meets with senior representatives of major international news agencies in St. Petersburg, Russia, Saturday, May 24, 2014. President Vladimir Putin has accused the West of ignoring Russia’s interests in Ukraine, in particular by leaving open the possibility that Ukraine could one day join NATO. (AP Photo/RIA-Novosti, Mikhail Klimentyev, Presidential Press Service)
The Associated Press

Russian President Vladimir Putin meets with senior representatives of major international news agencies in St. Petersburg, Russia, Saturday, May 24, 2014. President Vladimir Putin has accused the West of ignoring Russia’s interests in Ukraine, in particular by leaving open the possibility that Ukraine could one day join NATO. (AP Photo/RIA-Novosti, Mikhail Klimentyev, Presidential Press Service)

Russian President Vladimir Putin speaks during celebrations marking the Day of St. Cyril and Methodius, founders of the Cyrillic alphabet, in downtown St. Petersburg, Russia, Saturday, May 24, 2014. (AP Photo/RIA-Novosti, Mikhail Klimentyev, Presidential Press Service)

ST. PETERSBURG, Russia (AP) — President Vladimir Putin said Saturday that he does not believe there will be a new Cold War with the United States, and Russia does not want it.

But he warned that Russia's interests must be taken seriously and accused the West of having ignored Russia's concerns over Ukraine. He also criticized Britain's Prince Charles' reported recent remarks comparing him to Hitler as "unacceptable" and "not royal behavior."

"I wouldn't like to think that this is the start of a new Cold War — we're not interested in that and I don't believe it will happen," Putin said when asked about the future of U.S.-Russian relations, which are at their lowest point in the two decades since the end of the Soviet Union because of the crisis in Ukraine.

He said there have been many points of contact and cooperation between the U.S. and Russia in recent years, but "these instruments are only good when they are really used, if they are really platforms for bilateral work. These platforms are not there for us to drink tea or coffee. These are platforms for searching for compromise."

Speaking to representatives of major news agencies, including The Associated Press, on the margins of a major economic forum in this former imperial capital, Putin accused Western politicians of interfering in Ukraine without taking into account how important Russia sees its neighbor to its own security and economic interests.

Russia fears the new Western-leaning government in Kiev would try to take Ukraine, a former Soviet republic, into the U.S.-dominated Atlantic Alliance. When Russia annexed Crimea in March, Putin said the decision was driven in part by the need to prevent NATO ships from ever being based on the Black Sea peninsula.

"Where is the guarantee that, after the forceful change of power, Ukraine will not tomorrow end up in NATO?" Putin said. "We hear only one answer, as if on a record: Every nation has a right to determine on its own the security system in which it wants to live, and that doesn't concern you," he said.

"If the main bonus (of relations) Russia gets is to sit in the room and listen to what other people are saying, then that is not a role Russia can agree to," Putin said. "We always take into account the interests of our partners ... but there are some lines that cannot be crossed, and Ukraine and Crimea was that line."

As an indication of how badly Putin's relations with the West have fallen in some quarters, he was asked about Prince Charles' reported comment in a private conversation during a visit to Canada comparing the annexation of Crimea to Adolf Hitler's 1939 invasion of Poland.

If Charles said that, the comparison was "unacceptable" and "not royal behavior," Putin replied.

"I think he understands that himself," Putin said.

Putin spoke on the eve of presidential elections in Ukraine that the West hopes will be a step toward resolving the crisis with Russia. Pro-Russia armed separatists in the east of Ukraine have threatened to block the vote, which was called after the Russia-leaning president fled in February following months of street protests. Putin has called the ouster an illegal "coup d'etat" and accused Western countries of helping to bring it about rather than as an expression of popular will.